I was blue before you
And I was blue after you
I thought that if I gathered you in my hands,
I would find a way to piece you together
Read moreRebirth
I’ve been breathing for a while. I can feel the wood against my back, and taste the air. But my heart hasn’t started beating. It’s an odd feeling. I can tell that time has passed, and I can tell that my consciousness has returned, but my internal clock is still broken and my life hasn’t come back.
Read moreYik Yak: Liberation in Anonymity
“I’ll be in the library today if anyone wants to hit on me.”
“College is a game show called Am I Not Hungover or Just Still Drunk?”
“these tours really making me feel like a zoo animal today.”
These are just a few of the most popular “yaks” one finds on their Yik Yak feed upon opening the app on a Sunday morning. Yik Yak has grown in popularity among college students, Skidmore being no exception. Yik Yak launched in 2013 only to close in 2017, then relaunched in 2021. Its appeal to Skidmore and similar liberal arts institutions is that it enables anyone to post anonymous 200 character “yaks” viewable within a five-mile radius. With 87% of students living on campus, the app has arguably become a part of campus culture, bringing together students who don’t even know each other.
Students utilize the app for a variety of reasons: to find out what's happening on or off campus, to air out their grievances with administration, or even to use it as an online diary. With the added anonymity, people can post unfiltered yaks with the comfort of knowing that no one will be able to identify the poster. This, of course, comes with its drawbacks; the initial reason for the app's 2017 ban was due to cyberbullying and hate speech. People felt empowered to “name-drop” professors or fellow students without consequences. Additionally, students could violate academic integrity, or harass one another. This issue has become less prevalent since the relaunch, but still occurs.
With Yik Yak's relaunch, there are optimistic sentiments regarding its potential for good within the campus community. Furthermore, for investigative purposes, the app’s new privacy policy allows posts to be traced to the cellphone number used to create the account, hopefully holding those who take advantage of the app’s obscurity accountable.
Contrastingly, students have come to appreciate the app for its ability to cultivate a community. Who needs Google Maps when I can just ask people on Yik Yak where the best thrift shops are in the area? (The answer is Treasures Boutique and Noah’s Attic, apparently). Students can exchange complaints about workload, dining hall food, lack of sleep, etc. More than this, people can discuss insecurities unfiltered. The anonymity that comes with Yik Yak makes students entitled to be more authentic with their thoughts and feelings compared to other social media apps. This sense of authenticity and relatability can empower students to increase self-esteem and establish a more open community in the real world, something other apps such as BeReal or Snapchat aspire to emulate.
Yik Yak enables us to not only connect with Skidmore, but the students who attend it. As the new academic semester ramps up, and Skidmore students become more and more consumed in their studies, by simply opening Yik Yak, students can engage with hundreds of others in our community through just one post.
Activists Protest for Women’s Rights in Iran
On Friday, September 16, the morality police in Iran arrested and killed 22-year-old Mahsa Amini for incorrectly wearing her head scarf. Amini’s death was met with outrage and the first protests occurred outside Kasra Hospital, where Amini had been hospitalized and died. Thousands of people attended her funeral on September 17, and many women took off their headscarves in a show of their opposition to the mandatory hijab law.
Read moreFall 2022 Skidmore Sports Midseason Update
Skidmore 2022 Fall Sports are off to an incredible start, with many teams exceeding expectations and thriving as the midway point of the season approaches. On behalf of Skidmore News, we wanted to give an update on the fall sports teams, as well as sharing an interview with an athlete from each team to give some insight into how our student athletes are approaching the season. We hope you enjoy it!
Read moreTides Turning In Ukraine-Russia Conflict as Ukraine Counteroffensive Continues
In the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the tide appears to be turning in favor of Ukrainian military forces, as their counteroffensive continues to regain lost territory in the northeast. Russian forces are on the run in parts of Ukraine that they had seized early in the conflict. Most recently, Russian troops have retreated from the Balakliya and Izyum area in the Kharkiv region and lost nearly all of the northern region of Kharkiv.
Read moreQueen Elizabeth: What Her Death Means for the U.K. and the World
Queen Elizabeth’s uncontested reign of seventy years and two hundred and fourteen days came to an end when the ninety-six-year old monarch died on September 8th at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. Queen Elizabeth II held a long and complicated reign, being loved and hated in equal measure. When she passed, her life was celebrated, ridiculed, criticized and analyzed. Tears of joy and tears of sadness have been shed.
Read moreFollowing Faculty Unionization Efforts: Administrator and Organizer Perspectives
The process of non-tenure track faculty unionization reaches its final stages with an election that will conclude on the 26th of September. Junior Jacob Smith speaks with Ruth McAdams, Teaching Professor of English and vocal advocate, as well Michael Orr, Dean of Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs, about ongoing unionization efforts and the current election.
Read moreInside Skidmore’s Black Box Double Feature: An Interview with Tatsu Rivera and Gemma Siegler
Earlier this semester, Skidmore’s Theater Department presented a unique double-feature of two student shows: The Chaparral written and directed by Tatsu Rivera (‘22), as well as Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel’s And Baby Makes Seven directed by Gemma Siegler (‘22). The shows were performed in Skidmore’s Blackbox theater, which is a small, versatile performance space that can be easily transformed into different sets. After attending the shows on the opening night, March 4th, 2022, I had the privilege of interviewing both Rivera and Siegler to gain insight into the creative processes behind the productions.
Read moreFilm Review: "The Batman" Is In the Eye of the Beholder
At the center of any superhero story is the tension between good and evil. The latest Batman film, inexplicably qualified as The Batman, strategically blurs those concepts, guiding audiences to consider the possibility that our hero and his enemy may not be so different after all. The Batman itself is about sight — what one can or cannot see, what one chooses to see or not see. Viewing the film follows a similar line of logic: either you choose to overlook its flaws, or they are glaringly obvious.
Read moreΑθηνα, μου (My Athens)
I reach into the depths of my backpack and become engulfed by a sense of relief when I feel the sharp metal object. I begin to pull it out, or at least try to. The key gets tangled in the pages and pages of Greek grammar notes shoved into my backpack. It’s been two months and I still don’t know how to conjugate the verb “ειμαι.” The key finally makes its way up into the fresh air of Pangrati. As the cool key hits my sweaty hand, I realize that I cut my index finger…
Read moreLittle Baby
She doesn’t give the baby another look and leaves the room on swift feet, passing the maternity ward and not stopping till she exits the swiveling doors and collapses in the spiky grass outside the horrid walls that reek of death, even around life. There are light pink peonies, like the baby's hat, growing out of a small patch near a hospital garden sign. A monarch butterfly flaps its wings and floats in front of her and a gentle breeze wipes the tears from her face with a soothing whisper. It’s cruel how beautiful it is. As if nature itself refused to give her another look, to even regard her pain with a gray cloud or drop of rain. The flowers would keep growing; the flowers would keep living.
Read moreThe Sports Bans Continue: Oklahoma and Arizona
On March 30, the states of Oklahoma and Arizona joined the growing list of states which prohibit transgender women and girls from playing in female sports divisions. Both laws are rooted in the claim that trans athletes have an unfair advantage due to higher levels of testosterone before transition, and that this makes sporting competitions unfair. The vast majority of the individuals leading this charge against trans sport participation have no past history of caring about women’s sports or women’s rights in general. These are not unrelated, but part of a reaction to the last few decades of progress on LGBTQ+ rights and women’s rights.
Read moreTop Teams So Far: A Recap of the First MLB Games Back from Lockout
After a late start due to a lockout, Major League Baseball is back. Coming out of a major strike, the players organization recently agreed to a deal with the league, in which the MLB agreed to raise the bonus pool – the pool of money that funds the league’s bonuses and awards – from $40 million to $50 million. Despite the first two weeks of the season being canceled, the teams are back to their regularly scheduled programming. Here is a look at the top teams in each league right now.
Read moreThe Read Scare of 2022: Who benefits from new books being censored and why does it matter?
Conservative-driven book banning has seen a resurgence these past three months with new censorship debates popping up in schools, courts, and homes across the country. Book banning is not a new phenomenon nor is it a practice isolated to a single political party or ideology. This wave of censorship, however, has been particularly far-reaching in terms of its geographically expansive nature, the quantity of books banned, and the broader implications it has when it comes to banning books in 2022.
Read moreA Reflection on Newman Club Holy Week Events
The Newman Club on campus, run by editorial board members, President Emily Theisen ’22, Vice Presidents Sophia Grant ‘22 and Hannah Charity ’22, Treasurer Mac Elizalde ’23, and Senior Advisor Emily Davis ‘23, hosted a plethora of events and outings in collaboration with Parker Diggory, the Director of the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life (ORSL) during Holy Week, the week where Catholics commemorate Jesus’ entry into Jersaulem on Palm Sunday, the Last Supper on Holy Thursday, his crucifixion on Good Friday, and his resurrection on Easter During the Lenten season, Catholics fast, pray, and repent in preparation for Easter when Christ resurrected. The Newman Club members shared their reflections—their experience of being Catholic on campus and the close-knit sense of community—during this hallowed week.
Read moreAn Evening with Marty Baron at Skidmore
Esteemed journalist Martin Baron made an appearance at Skidmore College on April 7 in the Zankel Music Center for a Q&A. Skidmore’s very own faculty including Deputy Chief Diversity Officer Anita Jack-Davies, Sociology Professor Andrew Lindner, English Professor Linda Hall, and Political Science Professor Ron Seyb interviewed Baron. Baron recently retired in February of 2021 from his latest position as editor of The Washington Post, after almost five decades working in the field of journalism from his initial work with The Miami Herald upon graduating from Lehigh University in 1976.
Read moreFurthering SGBM Discussions on Skidmore’s Campus: The Student Life Committee’s Visit to Wellspring
On April 13th, Skidmore’s Student Life Committee was invited to Wellspring’s grounds for a tour and conversation with the Executive Director, Maggie Fronk, about the Sexual and Gender-Based Misconduct (SGBM) resources that they offer to Skidmore students and the larger Saratoga community. Wellspring, located a 15 minute drive away from Skidmore’s campus in Malta, NY, offers free and confidential services to individuals affected by domestic violence and sexual assault. Given the prominence of conversations on campus surrounding the College’s SGBM and Title IX policies since last semester’s student walkout, the Student Life Committee’s visit to Wellspring was an opportunity to gather more information about the external resources available to Skidmore students. Fronk shared that this recent visit was one of the best conversations that she has had with students in a long time, marking the resurgence of partnership and trust between Skidmore students and Wellspring.
Read moreTweets
“You wait until the day before finals to scream? kid i’m screaming every day #collegelife”
Read moreAn Interview with Erica Smith on Ujima’s Annual Fashion Show: Infiltrate
On April 16th, 2022, the Skidmore Club Ujima hosted its annual fashion show titled Infiltrate, which paid homage to the ballroom scene—a social and cultural movement spearheaded by queer brown and Black individuals. In alignment with Ujima’s mission to “bring awareness of African, African-American, and Caribbean cultures to Skidmore campus,” the show featured student models walking in three different “scenes” to celebrate the breadth and diversity of Black culture.
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